epa
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US declines prosecution of government worker in mine spill
U.S. prosecutors have declined to pursue criminal charges against an employee of the Environmental Protection Agency over a massive mine wastewater spill that fouled rivers in three states, a federal watchdog agency said. The EPA’s Office of Inspector General disclosed Wednesday that it recently presented evidence to prosecutors that the unnamed employee may have violated…
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Motives, timing of Hickenlooper’s ‘unusual’ climate change order questioned
There’s no issue more partisan in Colorado than energy production, so it’s not surprising that opinions of Gov. John Hickenlooper’s draft executive order on climate change are divided right along party lines. But some observers are surprised the governor is going there at all. “We do not have a state record of governors using executive…
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Woods, Zenzinger pitch the middle as problem solvers in state Senate rematch
The maps on the wall at Democrat Rachel Zenzinger’s state Senate District 19 campaign headquarters in Arvada are a web of lines outlining voter precincts, each precinct speckled with marker colors. Some precincts are predominantly Republican, some predominantly Democratic, and there are numbers written onto each of them. “479-480” reads one of them, another “412-410.”…
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Silverton takes a breather a year after huge mine spill
A year after a mine waste spill turned their river a weird yellow-orange, residents of a Coloradomountain town are taking a break from the aftermath for a party that includes a specially brewed beer the color of the spill. They’re also taking a few jabs at the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which accidentally caused the 3-million-gallon…
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Barton-Gawryn: EPA methane rule good for environment, economy
Too often big issues divide us. As a pediatric nurse, I know that topics like methane regulation can polarize people, tricking us into believing that we must choose between environment, health or economic security. But controlling methane pollution from the oil and gas industry is a win for children’s health, economic stability and clean environments.…
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YESTERYEAR: Allegations surface that embezzlement scheme helped fund U.S. Senate petition drive
Thirty-Five Years Ago this week in The Colorado Statesman … Some of the money allegedly embezzled from the Central Bank for Cooperatives in Denver by Eve Lincoln, a former coordinator for Secretary of State Mary Estill Buchanan’s 1980 Senate campaign, could have been used to help finance Buchanan’s petition drive to get on the ballot,…
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Melchior: Regulation puts coal miners out of work in Wyoming
Bill Pederson’s 40-year career in Wyoming’s mines ended abruptly last month, as Peabody Energy and Arch Coal announced more than 460 layoffs. His son lost his mining job the same day. “It’s going to be interesting, but I guess we’ll figure out what we’ve got to do,” Pederson says. “I think the whole town is…
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Hickenlooper, state lawmakers continue to push Congress for Good Samaritan bill
Lawmakers at the federal level may not be much help, but the EPA and Colorado officials are working well together to fix the century-old mining mess above Silverton that continues to leak waste water into local streams, according to the town administrator. “That [Aug. 5] accident is going to allow this problem to be properly…
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Hickenlooper, Mead set aside political differences to dig into sage grouse plan
While a massive five-year collaborative push by numerous government agencies, business interests, landowners and conservation groups to avoid Endangered Species Act listing of the greater sage grouse is largely heralded as a national model, it’s clear political differences remain between the neighboring Western governors who spearheaded the effort. Speaking at a two-day Western Governors’ Association…
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Vitali: Colorado should move forward on its Clean Power plan
The guest commentary “Why is Colorado complying with a costly plan already halted by the Supreme Court?” by Terry Jarrett criticized Colorado’s decision to continue developing a state climate change implementation plan. This state plan is required by the federal Clean Power Plan, which was recently stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Climate change is…